96 850 timing belt

I just passed 75K on my 850. Changed the belt at 50K since I'm an old school type. Didn't do the pump at that time but you should remember it takes the removal and replacement (labor cost) of all the same stuff to replace the belt as it does to replace the pump. The parts prices are relatively trivial.

Chuck Fiedler Nothing but Volvo since 1974

Probably. There have been numerous reports of early water pump bearing failure that lead to trashed motors, although that seems to have lessened in the last four or five years. I would recomend it since the pump on your motor is from the vintage when problems did exist.

Bob

I sure recommend it. Not only is it frustrating to have to pay for water pump replacement soon after paying for the same labor to replace the timing belt, I recall one poor soul who posted a few years ago here that his water pump seized at just over 100K miles and did the usual terrible damage.

Mike

Personally I think it is a waste of money to automatically change the water pump with the timing belt. However, I do completely flush out the cooling systems on my cars once every 2-3 years. I use distilled water and G-05 antifreeze in my Volvo. I think that this keeps the cooling system in much better than average condition.

My '96 850 is at 118,000 miles on the original water pump with no signs of trouble from it yet.

John